October 2011 Trade Facts and Figures – Autos and Europe

Today the Commerce Department announced the figures for international trade in goods and services for the month of October. Year-to-date, exports have grown nearly 16 percent. One area that has had particularly strong growth in exports is the auto sector. Exports of passenger cars in the first ten months of 2011 is nearly 25 percent over the same period last year. Those vehicles are finding homes in driveways and garages in Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the UK.

Today’s numbers clearly show the positive impact of exports on the American economy. So far this year we have seen six months of record-breaking growth of exports. Our initiatives are working for the American people. Since the President implemented the National Export Initiative in January 2010 monthly exports have increased 25 percent.

Exports continue to be a bright spot in our still recovering economy.

Europe and the EU have been in the news constantly and it’s worth noting that in 2010, exports to the 27 members of the European Union still represented nearly 19 percent of U.S. merchandise exports. The European Union is an important market for high value U.S. goods, with the largest U.S. export categories to the EU-27 market being chemicals, transportation equipment, computer and electronic products and machinery.

Demand in the Euro-zone countries has been the slowest to recover continuing into 2011. Through the first ten months of 2011, U.S. merchandise exports to these countries increased 13.4 percent. European Union members outside the Euro-zone have grown at a more rapid 15.6 percent. Outside the Euro-zone, the United Kingdom has led growth in 2011 with U.S. merchandise exports increasing 15.1 percent or $6.1 billion in the first ten months of 2011 (compared to the same period of 2010).